salokcinnodrog

No worries I'm always debating in my mind which is fastest. The few times I have travelled M25 took longer so now I don't go there at all. I've only once got caught out when there was an accident at that Witham/Maccyd's roundabout, and I was caught in a queue from Bradwell, but there is a little cut through that can avoid the worst. Those roundabouts can actually be worse heading home. Then if the A120 is slow I am happy to come back via Halstead

It's actually 10-15 minutes longer than A120 or if I know that's slow, the A414. I honestly don't know why, as there is more motorway, but it is also a bit longer. I think what slows that down is the 2 junctions, and there were some roadworks around M11 junction. The alternative which is again nearly as quick is A14 then M11! It is only the A120 single carriageway that is slow. I do usually check the traffic before I leave work, and keep travel news on as I'm driving

You actually echo some of my thoughts. I have the day ticket Suffolk Water Park on my doorstep, but at over £20 a night it is very expensive compared to my season ticket water, which is £160'ish a year. I prefer to travel into Essex for most of my fishing, and even on a Friday night have always been able to get a good swim. Even with the petrol cost it works out cheaper than fishing SWP for more than 20nights a year! I manage to leave work at around 6 and am usually at the venue by around 7.30, which is a 75mile drive. I do have a pinch point, it's the single carriageway A120 from Marks Tey to Braintree, the rest is dualled or motorway apart from the last 5miles from Harlow. Like you, it probably works out that I do a 2 weekends a month.

There were a couple of fish in the lock area I would have put around 6lb.

Only the second chub trip of the season, all on floating dog biscuits, freelined down with the current. Three today, 2lb 8oz, not pictured, 2lb 9oz and a 3lb 9oz. Looking a bit tatty around the tail end, so I took a picture for reference. Better looking and snuck out from climbing along a tree root until I was mid flow.

You might find Brackens is full, but never the Lagoons on Nazeing. North Met, maybe. Glen Faba, impossible

Essex wise, look at Lee or Lea Valley fisheries, they are pretty much in a line along the Lea Valley into London.

If it is any use to you: For me, I do try to keep it as simple as possible. I don't want to cast out, and then retrieve a rig that resembles a ball of cotton wool, tangled around itself. I don't usually want to be faffing around with complications, and I don't often do quicklinks. The reason for always using a swivel to join mainline to hooklink is that it is easy, simple, and I can hide swivel in buffer bead, which I think reduces the movement that a fish has before you get an indication. A swivel also means I can cut away any fragged length of mainline the running lead has slid up and down on. A swivel is a simple join to cut a length of fragged mainline away, then retie. As an add, I say I don't want many complications, but I have mentioned this before, I want to be able to adjust the hair length to deal with the situation, so I do use a sliding ring on the shank. The picture and quote below is from the Sticky at the top of the section, but this rig has accounted for numerous carp, some over 30lb, and also a very large tench.

Not very specific, but they are only worth what someone will pay for them. Personally I would not be selling them, a bulletproof set of alarms, far better looking than many others around today

Some good advice so far, especially from Steveo with the vid screen shot, but I will go back to basics. I do NOT think that you can get a good self take with a camera phone, unless you have a screw in adaptor that fits your bankstick or tripod. I do not have a remote trigger or button for my camera, and as far as I know my Fuji Finepix A330 does not support one, although I can connect it to my computer and Ipad to download pics. I would think that most basic Finepix cameras are the same. I keep on thinking to get better photographic equipment, it is money I am wary of spending, but I would be looking at the Canon Eos range of cameras, either new or secondhand. I would also be adding a remote trigger, probably a knee or hand squeeze air bulb, because that is what I am comfortable with, not a whistle or clap. As I mentioned in the July Catches thread I frame the area I am going to take pictures of, you can see behind me and that tench, I have a camou screen; that is the top of my picture, then one side is side of the bivvy, the other the end of the unhooking mat or cradle. This means when I arrive at the lake I position my bankstick with camera adaptor fitted and attach my camera so that my area is ready to photograph. In this case to check the focus, I used my chair as a focussing point. Then so it does not add to thieving temptation or get weather damaged I take the camera off and keep it safe in my bivvy. It is the work of a few seconds to rescrew it in the event of a fish.

The only coated or plain hooklink materials I use are Kryston, since the 1990's Mantis, Merlin, Snakebite, and then Amnesia for combi or mono links. As for hooks it is a choice between Gardner Mugga or Solar 101's for most bottom bait fishing. Quite simply it is a case of they work for me, and if it isn't broken, don't fix it

I tend to use a standard knotless knot, with an added line aligner as my starting point on most waters. Hooklinks are simple, braid, coated braid or mono. Since I have been using Kryston since the 1990's with no problems I see no reason to change what works for me, so it's Mantis and Merlin. The mono is usually Amnesia, quite stretchy, but is where I do change my hair attachment to a floss or braid hair. The coated braid is also handy in that it makes a pop-up rig easy to attach putty to, attach the putty where you have stripped back to.

Do you have crayfish in your water? Are you fishing slack or tight lines? Are there any raised areas with troughs behind between where the line enters the water and the end tackle?

And is present in Green Lipped Mussels, fungi and other items. Blitzed sweetcorn, good cloudy ingredients in groundbait, and definitely worth playing with in boilies, as liquid content, but you will still need some binding content like powdered egg.

Welcome to the forum. I usually just put lobworms straight on the hook, and a big hook at that for chub or carp, a size 2 or 4! A lot of my fishing with worms was actually stalking with a lift float, or for chub freelined, so takes were often pretty quick after casting.

As above, it's being sure and getting what works. On Taverham I could drop to 12lb Sensor and know I could get fish out of the lilies. I would not consider going any lower breaking strain than that, yet when Weybread Number 1 was clear and weed free 8lb line with a leader for long distance fishing was suitable. Again on Taverham, I could fish up to snags as safely as possible with that same 12lb line, and hitting takes as soon as they happened I landed most fish. The few I lost were down to hook pulls, not tackle getting snagged! Yet on Brackens I would not even consider fishing near the snags with line less than 15lb. As for fishing The Pads, after May I avoided the swim, you just did not have the room to play a fish without it getting into the massive bed of them, no matter what strength line. It is actually likely that many anglers are fishing 20lb line without knowing. I keep on going on about line diameter to breaking strain, well a line that is 0.40mm is a 20lb line, not 15, so many, maybe even most anglers are fishing stronger than they think. Years ago there was a thread called 'Overgunned', it may be worth a read even now

Some lily roots are as thick as your arm, so yes I would classify that as a snag. Weeds snags? not really, although there can be plenty of grit, shells etc that can make short work of lines with no abrasion resistance. As for rushes, some stick up above the water away from the main bed which can be on the edge, so yes I would say with the line going around a reed or rush bed it would be classed as a snag, in my mind, I do know I would want a decent line to cope with it.

10-15lb mono with a shockleader for me on the spod rod. If you have had a look at the older threads you'll know why I don't like braid on a spod rod

Tuppence pieces over a baccy tin for me. I can remember buying Herons in the 1980's before upgrading to Optonics. Regularly bending the arm back to shape or to try to avoid false bites in wind.

You're tight Isotopes last for years, I think mine are about 20 years old and are still going, although one is starting to fade. Isotopes have not been sold with any indicators for years; you had to pinch or buy isotopes to put in monkey climbers, then in your swingers, then in your hanging bobbins for as long as I can remember.

We did make sure to minimise the amount of gear we took. Before the advent of carp barrows, an ordinary wheelbarrow often made the journey Plus there was also a time when gear was put into the boat and rowed across the lake If we couldn't or didn't have those, then it was often a two trip job.

My view is that the best barrows going are the Carp Porter range. I have used the Mk.ll and it made short work of a mile walk to the swim at Taverham. If anyone knows Taverham, I am not joking on the distance from the car park to the swims on the far side, even the swims closest to the car park are probably 1/4 of a mile, and it is not fun lugging the gear for a week. I am currently using a 'borrowed' Theseus Carp barrow, and for the RRP of £49.99 it is a good deal, although I do still have rucksack on my back, and I don't open out the side holders. I found it very important to load a barrow correctly, everything needs to be stable, and you don't want much of the the heavy stuff at the back or it will kill your arms, you want the weight as far forward as you can (same with any wheelbarrow to be honest, and I have pushed a few of them over the years ) Water container and ancillaries like books, camouflage net, iPad etc go into the underbarrow bag. I put my spare Chub Eazi Mat with chair on the bottom, then bedchair with legs opened out on that as far back on the barrow, actually resting on the handles before the swan neck. The bedchair legs hold stuff in middle of barrow My tackle box and bait buckets go at the front of the barrow My Bigger unhooking mat with pod/banksticks and buzz bars inside sits on top of bucket and tackle box, then rod holdall goes on the top, again positioned as far forward as possible, and is strapped down with decent bungees.

I worked out what is in my rod holdall alone, and know that £1500 for rods and reels is about right for me on purchase price, although obviously I no longer have receipt. I do have pictures of my gear on the bank in use, but I reckon like everyone else things get added as you update or buy additional items. I keep most receipts on my purchases for a year as habit, I have a kitchen drawer full of them, both fishing tackle and household items, then every now and again go through it and bin older out of guarantee receipts.

Going onto line, and tackle brands 'updating' a make of line, it amuses me when a manufacturer says that the newer version has 2% less stretch than last years line. If last years version has 20% stretch (which is around what most mono's, between 15-25% do), then 2% is just 18%, and not really a significant difference. I still say many monos are overrated, 18lb line being sold as a 15lb to make it sound better; a 15lb line should have a diameter around 0.35mm, not the 0.38-0.4mm that many brands do. Saying that, some makes are catching on! A larger diameter will also reduce your casting distance, so you may need to consider diameter in some cases over breaking strain.

Sorry, but I can guarantee that a basic knotless knot with standard hair does not always work, nor does a Chod. (Boy, I hate that name,) I have watched fish manage to eject such a rig on a clear water at 5metres range. I had to switch to a line aligner, which takes it away from a basic rig, adding shrink tubing makes it more than basic. In fact every Blowback rig is adding bells and whistles, that you may or may not need, with using either a rig ring or as Nashy's original concept, a piece of silicon tubing. A rig ring running up and down the shank, stopped from going past the bend by a small hook bead, is adding additional items. Attaching the hair to the rig ring serves a couple of purposes, it means you can change hair length, by tying on a new hair, and it allows some extra bait movement, 'sliding' or 'extending'. Some fish in some waters are able to eject standard rigs, as per my first paragraph, but Ken Townley, Rob Maylin and others have made the same comments in magazines or books. In fact I think it was Ken Townley who noted that a very successful rig on Savay was easily ejected on one of his local waters, the fish were able to deal with it. Frank Warwick also advocated extending rigs, as did Rob Maylin in one of his books, and I think Jim Gibbinson years ago in an article. They have obviously found that at some point they needed to come up with something totally different. I would say that those three anglers are very good at getting location right, but when they have to adapt and come up with something totally different... I dislike having to faff with rigs, I would much prefer to use a standard knotless knotted rig, or knotless knotted and line aligned, but on Brackens my Combi rigs, or coated braid rigs with a stripped supple section and a free sliding rig ring, were totally different to other anglers, and I had to change dependant on swim or feature. I could see that as I did recover a few other people's rigs from various trees and snags over time, and over a year because I was doing something different I had a more successful catch rate than most anglers fishing there. I'm pretty sure we were mostly fishing the same spots, as I know a number of us had pictures of the various features and bars when the lake was drained!